Sheet-feeding device



March 24, 19331. -R MQRWZ SHEETYFEEDING DEVICE Filed Nov. 5, 1929 m ted Mar. 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT- "OFFIC ronrrz, or mm, swims, As'smuon. rosmuar. m. nmes'roncom rm, or cnmnm uaw JERSEY, A. coaromrion or new mass: 4

' sneer-FEEDING Dav da A j 11ei tion m g. N ovember 5,19291. Serial No. 404,910.-

invention relatesj to certain improvements :in mechanism for -feeding comparativelystifi sheetmaterial, such for instance as double faced corrugated board, .to machines forprinting, s1otting,-scoring, or otherwise I operating' upon the sheets. It relates more 1 Y particularly to that type of mechanism illustrate'd-in-the-LangstonPatents Nos. 1,107,971,

issued August 18,1914, and'1,150, 210, issued [17,1915]; In the specific forms of Au fee mechanism illustrated in said pat ents, ereisprovided a suitable support in the form of a table or platform for a column or. stack of sheets to be fed. Guides engage 16 the edges of the'she'ets in the stack or column v to hold the latter in position as the sheets are fed singlyfroin the bottom thereof. A feeder head movable'back and forth along the support en es with the rear edge of the bottom I 20 sheet to sllde the latter out from under the remainingsheets of the stack or column and beneath one. of said guides. In the device illustrated in-said Patent 1,150,210 the sheet eng members include rearwardly and upgiwardly inclined resilient fingers for direct engagement with the sheet .to be fed.' These are flexible throughout their lengths and have bent ends formingintegral hooks for catching the edge of the sheet. Although these 80 usually operate satisfactorily theyare not ideal and are open to some objections. If these. members be rigidly secured at their front ends theymay, under some conditions of use, .bow under the weight of the'sheets so that the hook ends are not forcedupwardly to properly engage the sheet. edge at the back end'ofthe stroke, or may slip under the sheet during the fee'ding movement. Repeated bending may develop afracture'ifthe members are not.properly tempered. The'removal of broken or defective members is difficult. Oneobject of the present invention is-to. provide an improved construction which insures at alltimes proper feeding of the sheet engaging members with the sheet to be fed.- A further object is to provide a construction having greater strength and durability. A further object is to construct. and arrange the sheet engaging members so that they may the side edges. The sheets C are 'tion, but it is, to be understood that the in-. Iventionis-imt limited to this'form and that other forms may be 'designedwhich fall within the scope of the appended claims and the spirit of my-invention.

In these drawings: i -,Fig. '1 is a longitudinal sectional view illus trating a part of anapparatus having my improved feedingmeans forremoving sheets in succession from the bottom of a stack or column. i

Fig. 2 is a topplan view of a feeding head on a larger scale. f

' F'g. 3 is an edge view of said head and Figs. 4 and 5a13e transversesectional views taken on the lines and 55 respectively o ofFig.-2. e Thedetails of the machine in connection with which, the feeding mechanism is employed, forms no part of the present invention. A table or platform 10 supports a pile or stack of sheets Qfrom the bottom of which it is desired to feed the sheets singly to the 4 machine. The feeding mechanism delivers to a pair of driven rollers 12 which may be provi ded with suitable friction surfaces I to ino sure a: feeding grip of the rollers upon the sheets; These rollers may be disposed adjacent to one edge of the'table. Suitable inclined guides 18 are employed for the front and rear edges of the stack and other guides, not shown, may be employed for ed singly and in succession from the bottom of the stack and along the sup ort 10 by a feeder head u on the upper ace of the support and of sheet'engagingmembers 32. The under face of the plate 26 is provided with a recess 36 receiving a plate 37 secured in place by ,in the slide 20. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the plate 29 is of slightly greater width than the rib 27. By tightening the screws 31, theplate 29 is drawn toward the rib 27 and the head and slide are firmly clamped together, but with the head at anydesired position along theslide depending on the width of the sheets to be fed.

'As the main feature of the present invention, there are provideda plurality of plates 32 of stiff metal pivotally mounted upon the forward edge of the feeder head plate 26. This edge is preferably formed with a plurality of inwardly extending recesses or notches 28 in fyvhich the sheet engaging members are pivo lly mounted. Those portions of the front edge of the feeder head plate 26 I between the recesses or notches28, are formed to provide bearings 30 in which pintle members 24 for the sheet engaging members are mounted. i

There aretwo of these pintle members 34 which extend along the forward edge of the feeder head from opposite ends to a point adj acent to the center of said feeder head. The outer end of each member 34 is bent to lie along its respective end of the feeder head 26 as at 36 andits extremity is formed with an angular portion 38 adapted forjreception in a recess 40 in the feeder head 26. Thus they are frictionally retained, but may be readily pulled out.

The forward end of each sheet engaging member may be bent to provide a bearing 42 through which the pintle 34 may extend when the sheet engaging member is positioned in its slot 28. Thus each sheet engaging member has free pivotal movement at its front end about the pintle 34 and is held against lateral movement. The parts are preferably so pro portioned that the front ends of the sheet engaging members are substantially in line with the front face of the feeder'head to make a straight front edge. Y

Thesheet engaging members are normally upwardly inclined rearwardly in respect to one end, preferably to itsrespective sheet end the top face of the feeder head, and are so held by resilient meansrin the-form of a fiat spring 50 disposed therebeneath. Each spring engages the plate 26 and the member 32 and is secured in any desired "manner at;

gaging member as at 51. The lower end of each sprin 50 is formed to provide an angular portion 52 which has a slot 53 preferably of t e keyhole type with its enlarged portion positioned at the rear end of the slot, to receive the head of a stud 55. The engagement of the smaller or body portion ofthe stud .55

end of the spring 50, and at the same time the upwardly swinging movement of the sheet engaging members under the influence of their spring members 50, is limited by the engagement of the stud 55 and the end of the slot.

-Each member 32 has at the lower free end thereof and secured thereto transversely extending bars or lugs 56' of a thickness approximatin but not exceeding the the ness of the heet C and presenting a shoulder at its edge for engaging the edge of the sheet. The upper surface is wide so that it will not cut into the sheet while sliding therebeneath.

- I have illustrated the plate 26 as provided with six of these members 32 and their asso ciated parts, but it will be obvious that the number may be increased or decreased depending on the width of the sheet which the device can handle. The members 32 may be wider or narrower and each may have two or more springs,'if desired.

In operation the feeder head moves rearwardly to-such an extent that the lugs 56 of the sheet engaging members come out from beneath the column orstack of sheets to be fed and immediately spring upwardly, or the column drops slightly. The inclination, spacing and resilient mounting of the sheet engaging members positively insures engagement of the shoulders formed by the lugs 56 with the edge of the sheet, even though the latter be warped or curved'out of a straight line. In this position, the sheet engaging members lie substantially flat or parallel with the upper face of the feeder head. with the studs 55 lying within openings 55' in the sheet engaging members. Upon movement of the feeder head in the forward direction, the sheet engaged by the lugs of sheet engaging members, will be advanced to a position where it will be picked up by the feeding rollers 12 at which time or short ly'thereafter, the feeder head returns to po-'. sition where the lugs 56 are beyond the rear edge of the bottom sheet of the stack and inposition' to feed the next shee'tfforward upon forward movement of the feeder head. While the lugs 56 of the sheet engaging members are moving beneath the column or stack of sheets, the sheet engaging memberswill be yieldingly depressed to a position substantially in parallelism with the to .face of the feeder head, but if the sheet be warped each-member may occupy a position in which it has proper pulling engagement with the'sheet edge. 1 Y

Inasmpch as the sheet engaging members may support a portion] of the weight of the stack of sheets, the spring members 50- may b .instang very light relatively stiff or strong. In some menses the steak, the spring members 56' might be sheet of the stack, and a spring supporting of suficient strength to elevate the sheet the rear end of engaging members to too great en extent" Such movement is prevented by the limiting den and engagement of the forward end of the slot f NW 53 with the stud 55.,

Huving thus described my invention, what ll cleirn es new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. in e sheet feeding mechanism, a feeding heed, e sheet engaging member pivotally mounted upon the forward edge of seid feed ing heed. end inclinedv upwardly and rear werdlv therefrom, n leaf spring secured to the under side of said memberfor vieldinglv supporting the same in said inclined position, end means for limiting the movement of said member.

2. lln a sheet feeding mechanism. u feeding head including at slidnble piste having recesses in its front edge. u nluralitv of sheet engaging men'ihers independently pivoted in separate recesses and inclined upwardlv and rearwardlv, a resilient member carried bv each sheet engagin memher and hsvino sliding engagement with said feeding head. end

a horizontal stack the ottommeen's for limiting the sliding movement of said resilient member relative to time feed ing head. therebv to limit the movement of the sheet engaging members.

3. In a. sheet feeding mechanism. a feedinn" head. including a slidehle plate. a pluralitv of sheet feeding memhers pivotallv mounted upon the irorwerd edge of said plate. a leaf spring curried hv each of said members for vieldinglv supporting the rear end of the member. each of snid springs having e slotted lower end for sliding engagement with the up er face of said plete, end a stud engaging in the slot of each of said springs for limiting the sliding movement thereof. and therebv limit in one direction, the pivotel movement ofits respective mem- L A sheet feedingdevice. including a stack support a plate slidehle thereon. a 1

substentiallv inflexible fiat finger pivoted to the front edge of said plate and having a transverse lug on the upper surface at the I free end and presenting a fiat upper surface for sliding engagement with the under surface of a stack of sheets, and a shoulder for engagement with one edge of the bottom sheet, and a spring for yieldingly supporting the last mentioned end of said finger.

5. A sheet feeding mechanism, including support for superposed sheets, a feeding head movable back and forth over said support, a plurality of sheet engaging members pivotally mounted upon from, and each having a hook rear. end for engagement wit said member,

Signed st Camden in the county of fiem- State of New Jersey, the 2nd dey A. 'D. 1929.

' ROBERT MURITZ, 

